Talks have begun between Starling, a company supported by Goldman Sachs, and a bank in the Asia-Pacific region to roll out the Engine banking-as-a-service platform. Starling refused to disclose who the specific Asian bank is. Engine is an underlying technology platform that Starling allows other financial technology firms and major banks to utilize.Starling Bank is pushing forward with its plans for international expansion, in talks with an unnamed Asian bank to launch its Engine banking-as-a-service platform. According to Nick Drewett, chief commercial officer of the Goldman Sachs-backed lender, the move will mark the company's first expansion outside of Europe. While confidential, the agreement entails the Asian bank using Starling's software to create small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) accounts.The partnership, which will not offer personal banking services, is distinct from Starling's plans to use its Engine core banking platform to enter the European market. Rather, the platform will be licensed out to other financial service firms and large banks in order to create digital-only banking brands from scratch.Starling is one of the 200 top fintech companies in the world according to CNBC and Statista; 3.6 million customers have already opened accounts and the company has over 510,000 SME customers. Founded by Anne Boden in 2015, Starling raised $1.1 billion from investors including Goldman Sachs, Qatar Investment Partners, and Fidelity Management and Research Company, and had earned a £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion) valuation in 2021.
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